Teach in Korea with Footprints

So far, I'm having a great experience teaching in a public school in South Korea.

First the bad:
Although a bit of the information provided in Footprints' Word documents were out of date (for example, Gangwon province no longer has 5 weeks of vacation; now it has only 4 weeks, like everywhere else). In addition, I noticed that many other recruiters had provided care packages and other support upon arrival at the airport, which is a really nice idea.

And now the good:
Otherwise, it was really great working with Footprints. The guides for filling out forms and getting hold of documents were incredibly helpful, as was the feedback during the interview process

Korea is a really amazing place, and I wish more North Americans knew about it as a tourist destination, or even just as an interesting country. Every weekend, I see a new place, learn a new activity, have a new adventure, and during the week I have a very stimulating experience teaching high school in the north of South Korea.

It seems my placement is a bit different from most of the other August 2014 EPIK intakes (English Program in Korea - the public school English program). Most people I met are teaching middle/elementary school, have smaller classes and fewer coteachers than I do, and sometimes need to work on weekends, which I do not. However, there are as many upsides as there are downs to my different situation, and I'm really happy with my decision to do this, and pleased with my choice of Footprints to help me through it.

The Footprints team was easy to work with, and very supportive during my entire application process. Even though they had many applications to keep up with, I felt like I was always kept up to speed on what was going, and my application was of utmost importance. It was easy to communicate with the team, and my emails were usually answered right away or sometimes even by phone. It was extremely helpful to have someone on my side who knew the process inside and out, and could help keep me on top of deadlines and expectations. I highly recommend Footprints if you are looking for a recruiter to teach abroad.

I contacted Footprints after doing quite a bit of research about recruiters placing teachers in South Korea. I was very happy with the information provided in terms of paperwork required and availability of jobs meeting my requirements.

I was offered three interviews and three jobs in South Korea. I chose the job in Ulsan after reading some good reviews of that city and the foreign community. I was incredibly happy with my placement at my hagwon. It was professionally ran, and I did not have any problems with pay or work hours. My director spoke fluent English and was incredibly helpful. That wasn't the case for many of the people I knew! Those of us who used Footprints were all happy with our placements.

South Korea was an amazing place to work, if you are willing to work. It is a job and you have to approach it that way. You will be teaching children and that can be difficult if you don't have any experience with kids. I found the people that had the most problems came to Korea for a vacation or didn't like or want to teach children.

If you have an opportunity to teach I highly suggest Ulsan. It is an amazing city with a vibrant foreigner community. You are immersed in Korean culture, but with some amenities from home.

I am now a teacher in the USA and I credit that to my experience teaching in South Korea.

Life as an ESL teacher in Korea is not a perfect life, there I said it. However, let's be honest, life will never be perfect no matter where you live. What a job through Footprints Recruiting CAN do is change your life and help you ACHIEVE your goals.

I had three major goals when I arrived:
1. Pay off my student loans
2. Travel and experience a variety of cultures
3. Grow personally and professionally.

Upon the recommendation of a friend, I thoroughly researched Footprints and quickly found the option of teaching in Korea to be the best way for me to reach all three of my goals.

Footprints was incredibly helpful with the application process (a dizzying amount of paperwork), and even now (one year later), I still receive check-in emails once in a while making sure that everything is well. I know that if I ever run into a problem, Footprints will help me.

As I said before, life here is not perfect and you will experience frustrations, but I have found that with the support of Footprints, along with remembering a few pieces of wisdom, life here can be a fulfilling adventure.

Words of advice:

- It's important to be aware of your expectations and assumptions, and even more importantly, be able to modify and adjust them when necessary.
-Be flexible and try and understand the cultural differences.

- Life as an expatriate is about thriving, not simply surviving.
- Soak up the new and weird experiences, try something different!

- Perhaps the most important thing I have realized, the concept that has taken root and blossomed is: Life as an expatriate is all about the people.
- Make friends that will last a lifetime, and enjoy the happy faces of inspired children.

My students make me smile everyday, they also make me mad several times a week. Its my choice to look over the frustrating moments and hold on to memories like this one:

(after a fun class period of being silly)

Me: "Ok, class time is over, good job today!"

Philip: As he plops down beside me with a beautiful smile and contented sigh, "Teacher......"

Me: "Yes, Philip?"

Philip: "Teacher, today was wonderful!"

Me: "Yes, I think so too."

My advice for anyone thinking of teaching in Korea through Footprints Recruiting: Just do it!

Footprints Recruiting did a great job with assisting me with obtaining a reputable teaching position in South Korea. I work in the capital city of Gangwon-do, perhaps the most beautiful province in South Korea.

While I love Seoul and go there often via the ITX, which connects my city to Seoul super fast (70 mins), I love living here in Chuncheon and could not have asked for a better placement. The locals are welcoming, friendly, and very hospitable.

I teach at an all-boys high school. With the exception of large classes, which can be challenging, my school (e.g. principal, assistant principal, faculty and staff) are great and make me feel very welcome here and they provided me with a very nice and spacious apartment (2BR/2BA). I was so shocked.

I have just one co-teacher and I teach 21 hours per week and my average class size is 40 students. Most of my students are good, but with such large class sizes it can be challenging. Yet, I'm thankful that I only teach at one school in lieu of more than one.

I've been here for seven months and I can truly say that coming to South Korea was one of the best decisions I have made and I intend to stay longer than a year. When I first got here, I was certain that I would only be here for one year, but life is good and I'm not ready to leave. I have made with friends with people from many different places who have become like family to me here and I get to experience Korean culture and do something I greatly enjoy.

I had a very positive experience with EPIK (through Footprints). The school I was placed at was a reputable public school in a very nice neighbourhood. There was one co-teacher who was personally responsible for helping me with both work and non-work related affairs (such as how to open a bank account, how to set up internet at my home etc.). I formed very close friendships with my coteachers and still keep in touch with them to this day. They really helped me understand more about not only Korean culture, but about the work culture there. If I could do it all over again, I definitely wouldn't think twice.

Coming to Korea is certainly one of the best decisions I've made and I thank Footprints Recruiting for being so helpful in the process. I've been asked by several people that are intrigued in teaching abroad and I always mention Footprints because you all really made it as simple as possible and walked me through step by step. I always recommend going through a recruiter, especially Footprints.

I'd like to share my experience with EPIK. English Program in Korea provides teachers with a 9 day orientation that made adjusting to Korea incredibly easy. We learned about Korean culture, language, the school system, food, and teaching strategies to prepare us for the classroom. Everyone is so friendly and down to earth, you meet so many people that are in the same exact situation as you and sharing that experience is already one way to connect.

Groups are split depending on what area in Korea they'll be teaching, so I met friends who now live in my town and province. My group was for Gangwon province, there were about 30 of us. Around 15-20 of us meet up at least once a month, or we visit each other during the weekends. It's really like nothing else I've experienced. I met people that I know I will friends with for a very long time. Orientation really did help me since I had no teaching experience aside from the TESL certificate.

Life in Korea is amazing. I live in a smaller town called Taebaek in the mountains of Gangwon province. The town used to be known for its coal mining and is the highest city in South Korea. I teach at an all boys middle school, a five minute walk from my apartment. Teaching has its ups and downs. Boys can be difficult to manage in the classroom, but overall my experience has been very pleasant. I recently had my six months mark and am considering renewing my contract another year.

I'm lucky in ways I didn't realize when I first arrived. Although I live in a rural area, we have a decent city center and main trains and buses that travel to larger cities within three hours. Also, the foreigners in my town are now like family to me. We have a real tight community and gather once or twice a week to eat out and sometimes take weekend trips.

The majority of foreign teachers I know feel a similar way, some haven't found a reason to leave and have been here for many years. Our jobs are not that absorbing, the benefits are great. We don't worry about rent too many bills. We are paid well enough that we can afford to eat out a couple times a week, take weekend trips, visit nearby countries on vacation and still be able to save. The consensus is: for anyone who is thinking about coming to Korea, don't make it a maybe just do it. You won't regret it.

EPIK has the potential to be a great program, but can never be under the current culture of Korean education. From my two years of experience under EPIK, the failings of Korean students when it comes to English education are placed largely on the GETs, which is the last place it should be. As a GET, I had no means of authority or discipline in the classroom, so students ran rampant and co-teachers, when in class, rarely did anything to control the students. Slaps on the head or hands with rulers did nothing to discourage troublemakers or improve classroom morale.

When it comes to co-teachers, they NEED to be able to speak English, not only to effectively teach the language but to be able to communicate with the GET. Too many of my friends were little more than tape recorders or robots in the classroom, and had no means of improving their situation because the co-teacher couldn't understand them. In the US, if a teacher is instructing on a foreign language, they are required to be fluent in it, in reading, writing, grammar, AND speech. My English Dept. head could BARELY speak English and had no passion as a teacher, whereas my co-teacher in my last school was fluent and passionate but always cut down by her superiors. That is not right and an all-to-common example of the failure of Korean culture when it comes to education. The older teacher is NOT always right.

If EPIK wants to be a viable program, one that effectively instructs students on how to use English, there needs to be a nationwide curriculum, one that is taught by every teacher across the country. It's no wonder that Korean students are learning English at different paces and levels when every GET is forced to go it alone. Both years, I arrived to NO curriculum, having to scramble to create my own lessons with NO basis to follow. It's certainly expected to have to do lesson-planning, but without a base curriculum, what are we to teach that gives ALL students an equal chance to learn?

There's only so much whitewash one can use before the dirt shows thru, and that's what is happening with the Korean education system. I regularly saw Korean teachers faking important documents to hide the truth of their students' grades; I was told point-blank that all our high school seniors would graduate REGARDLESS of their grades. What's the point in teaching if everyone passes anyway? My Korean co-workers regularly commended my diligence in lesson-planning and teaching, but it's because it's a diligence they don't have! Too many times my KT told me she didn't care about the high school students because of their attitudes and behaviour, and so would not teach them. The growing ignorance of this generation of Korean students will surely show through the whitewash the longer the truth is covered up.

By cancelling the EPIK program, as is rumoured to be happening, you are not fixing the problem. The GETs are not the problem; they want to be the solution, to be the driving force in English education, but we are not given the tools, only the blame. And so, South Korea will isolate itself from the Western world by removing the thousands of Westerners who are eager to share their culture and experiences, allowing Korea to dive deeper into the homogeneity it so prizes. Maybe North and South will someday reunify, but in my view, the isolation caused by dismissing waygook teachers will create in the South a culture akin to that of the North, and they can be alone together.